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Career Change?: Are You Ready For A
Career Change?: Are You Ready For A
Career Change?: Are You Ready For A
CAREER
CHANGE?
7 WARNING SIGNS IT MAY BE
TIME TO MAKE A MOVE
ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
In no particular order, here are seven of the most common warning signals
that you may be ready for a career change.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
When you first made the choice to pursue your that once seemed so enjoyable. You are
career, it may have been the right choice and there sleep-walking at your job.
was probably at least one good reason for choosing Does any of this sound familiar?
your job. Perhaps it was anticipated compensation,
job market need, opportunity for growth or simply
the appeal of the work itself. Whatever the reason,
you made the right choice for that time - but
somehow things feel different now. The pay does
not offset your loss of passion for the job, and you
can't continue to plug along just for the money. You
may even be among the few where your job security
is not in question, but mere job security does not
appeal as it once did. Your daily routine has become
a repetition of the same tasks in the same way, day
after day, and none of it has meaning or purpose.
You may be finding the work is no longer
challenging, and you feel detached from the career
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
workplace.
Conducted on a massive sample size of 150,000 The alarming thing about that actively disengaged
American employees, this survey showed that the vast statistic is that in a follow-up analysis, the Gallup
majority did not feel challenged or motivated at their survey suggested that those 20% of unhappy workers
jobs, and were either bored with the work or actively might be costing business as much as $550 billion in
resented it. lost productivity. Clearly, disengagement is not simply
an issue for the individual - there is a significant
consequence to employers and to business when
workers do not feel challenged and motivated by their
jobs.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
There comes a time in the life of many workers when you - there's always a new rush project at work, and
the realization hits that their job is consuming the lion's the boss always has you scrambling to stay on top of it.
share of the waking hours in every day, and there are When you reach the point where this has become true
only scraps left for home, family, friends, and other for you, it's time to think about whether or not you can
pursuits. While it's certainly true that any 9-to-5 job will continue leading a life so out of balance.
dominate the quality hours available in a given day, the
kind of imbalance referred to here goes far beyond
that.
WORK LIFE
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
When an employee feels unappreciated at work, it is less the same; parts of the same great machine that
often due to the fact that management, or at least a are all interchangeable and therefore easy to replace.
direct supervisor, views employees as being more or It is one of the most basic human needs to be
recognized as an individual, to be praised for our
efforts and achievements, and to simply feel needed
and wanted, and because this is such a basic need, it
extends beyond personal relationships and into the
workplace.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
Ironically, this is one of the easier problems to fix. In How did he do it? By getting to know each and every
Michael Abrashoff's book, "It's Your Ship: Management member of the crew personally, and letting them know
Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy", the that their contribution was valued. This is the kind of
author describes how he inherited a naval vessel with recognition all employees seek, and the kind of
dramatic employee issues. recognition all managers should practice in an ideal
world.
Upon taking the helm he
had a crew with a mere 28% Granted, this was a shipboard situation and may not be
RATE OF RETENTION - 28%
rate of retention and a
the most accurate reflection of workplaces all around
shocking 31% rate of
RATE OF WORKERS the world, but this single case can still serve as a
workers' compensation
COMPENSATION - 31%
claims. sobering example of steps that management might
easily take to show appreciation of employees.
In a single year he
converted those numbers Unfortunately in many companies the management is
RATE OF RETENTION
into 100% retention and INCREASED TO 100%
out of sync with the needs of their workforce leaving
workers compensation was an increasing number feeling unappreciated. If you find
almost non-existent at a RATE OF WORKERS yourself in this scenario it may be time to look
rate of 2%. COMPENSATION REDUCED TO 2%
elsewhere where your talents will be appreciated.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
While this sign of career unhappiness can be caused Some of the most common reasons cited by
by many factors, the workplace environment can play a employees for disliking their workplace atmosphere
key role in an employee’s satisfaction. include:
spend less than a year on the job before realizing it management is taking the company in the right
did not meet their expectations and there are things direction
about the job they dislike. • A subtle form of bullying being practiced by
Whether your dissatisfaction happens early in your
job or the environment changes over time, it is
important to recognize where your feelings of
discomfort are stemming from.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
This is probably the most compelling sign of all that a Each of these taken alone can be alarming enough to
job change or career change should be considered. a person, but when several of these are manifested
When the stresses or the sheer weight of hours and together, it can be a powerful indicator to a person that
responsibilities begin to take a physical toll on an he/she is in the wrong profession, and that it is
individual, every day on the job will seem like a mild expressing itself in physical terms.
form of torture. Far from being interested in the work,
an employee might find it extremely difficult to even
get up in the morning, prepare for work, and
sleep-walk through another day.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
There are many other indicators of job burnout beside have been asked to do more, which means that
the physical ones, and in a survey conducted by CNN, additional workload has been placed on them, along
employees cited some of these additional signs as with additional stresses. By the same token, fewer
warning signals that helped them come to the available jobs makes it more likely that employees
realization they were close to the breaking point at experiencing one or more of the above symptoms will
work: tolerate them indefinitely simply because they are
• The friendship and camaraderie with workers afraid that once they leave the current job they will be
that once existed has disappeared, and in some unable to find another one.
cases been replaced by a form of hostility
• Enthusiasm for work has been replaced by
apathy or revulsion
• A strong desire to report later for work and leave
earlier, coupled with lack of desire to work any
extra hours or weekend days
• Co-workers give you a wide berth, and avoid you
altogether in some cases, so as not to provoke an
episode of irritability
PAGE
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ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
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